But as the NYT points out, rock star investors that disclose exactly what they're doing (even when they don't have to) are on to something. Think about what happened last month when Bill Ackman announced his massive Herbalife short — the Street started attacking the stock with a vengeance.

There is a culture of worship around Mr. Ackman and a small circle of hedge fund deities like Mr. Einhorn, John A. Paulson of Paulson & Company and even Steven A. Cohen at a somewhat tarnished SAC Capital Advisors. When one of them says or does something, it quickly reverberates in the market.

We have seen this before with Warren E. Buffett, when a new investment by him pushes the stock of the company up instantly. But more often these days, it is the bets of hedge fund managers that a stock will go down that move share prices.

You can tick off the list: Mr. Einhorn and St. Joe Company; Steve Eisman and the profit-making education sector; Carson Block of the investment firm Muddy Waters Research and Olam International...

We'd add Jim Chanos to that list too. These are investors that can cause a stock to go into panic mode when they announce a short position. The NYT suggests that maybe it's time for the SEC to require investors to disclose short positions like they do long ones (quarterly, in 10K filings). That way the market won't be caught by surprise.